They had us visit the site before it was handed over. And we joked about it. O’ cinese, here’s where you’ll end up. O’ Sicco, this cell already has your name on it. We visited the prison where each of us would later wind up. I’ve spent more than ten years in prison, and there was never a day when I made the bed. When you’re a boss in the Italian Mafia, in whatever prison they send you to, there’s always someone who will make your bed, cook for you, trim your nails and your beard. In jail, if you’re nobody, it’s tough. In the end though we all hate being in prison and we’re all afraid. With my own eyes I saw Vallanzasca – a legend, since you don’t usually see mafiosi from the north – practically kiss the guards’ hands. Poor guy, he had an utterly shitty life in jail, he was totally under the guards’ thumbs. And I said to myself, is this the legendary Vallanzasca everyone feared? This guy who stands at attention, hands behind his back, as soon as a jailer comes by? The truth is, after ten years in prison you’re a lamb: we all tremble when we hear them coming, the Mobile Operative Group, that is, called in to beat us up when something goes wrong in there.

I ask Prestieri the final question, and it is the usual question that talk-show hosts pose to former criminals. Laughingly I do an impression: ‘What would you say to a kid who wants to become a Camorrista?’ Prestieri laughs too but with some bitterness:

I can’t teach anybody anything. There are many reasons why someone becomes a Camorrista, and among them poverty is often just an excuse. I have my life, my tragedy, my failures, my family to defend, and my sins to atone for. I am only happy about one thing, that my children are studying at the university, far removed from this world. Decent kids, the only clean thing in my life.

References

1. I SWEAR

Ginsborg, Paul. Salviamo l’Italia. Einaudi, Turin 2010.

Mazzini, Giuseppe. Dei doveri dell’uomo. Rizzoli, Milan 2010.

Montanelli, Indro. L’Italia del Risorgimento. Rizzoli, Milan 1972.

Rossi, Lauro. Mazzini e la Rivoluzione napoletana del 1799. Piero Lacaita Editore, Manduria 1995.

2. THE ’NDRANGHETA IN THE NORTH

Carlucci, Davide and Giuseppe Caruso. A Milano comanda la ’ndrangheta. Come e perché la criminalità organizzata ha conquistato la capitale morale d’Italia. Ponte alle Grazie, Milan 2009.

Ciconte, Enzo. ’Ndrangheta padana. Rubbettino, Soveria Mannelli 2010.

Ciconte, Enzo, Vincenzo Macrì and Francesco Forgione (with illustrations by Enzo Patti). Osso, Mastrosso, Carcagnosso. Immagini, miti e misteri della ’ndrangheta. Rubbettino, Soveria Mannelli 2010.

Gratteri, Nicola and Antonio Nicaso, Fratelli di sangue. Storie, boss e affari della ’ndrangheta, la mafia più potente del mondo. Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, Milan 2010.

——. La malapianta. Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, Milan 2009.

Gratteri, Nicola, Antonio Nicaso and Valerio Giardina. Cosenza ’ndrine sangue e coltelli. Pellegrini Editore, Cosenza 2009.